The Ups and Downs of Life After Transplants

Erik Compton’s first transplanted heart, installed when he was 12, failed in 2008, and he had another transplant; he jokes now that “everybody knows I’m the guy with two hearts.”

LARRY DORMAN

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Erik Compton’s journey from death’s door to a featured threesome on the PGA Tour has taken three years. His travails resembled an electrocardiogram printout. Ups like his second successful heart transplant. Downs like his failure to get through local United States Open qualifying. Ups like the birth of his and wife Barbara’s first child. Downs like the constant fatigue he battles.

All the joy and sadness seemed like a blur to Compton, 31, on Wednesday, when he sat behind a microphone at the AT&T National, smiling, giving a thumbs-up and talking about his victory last weekend in Mexico on the Nationwide Tour, the one he has been seeking since being cleared to play golf again three years ago.

“Well, I mean, it means the world,” he said. “You know, I made a call four months after my transplant to just about everybody in the country in golf, and said that I was going to make a comeback, and there were very few people that were willing to take a chance on me.

“And just to be able to make it to the tour,” he continued. “Obviously I’ve played on sponsor invites, but to be able to play next year with a card and that nobody can take that away from me, the people that have seen what I went through, my wife, my parents, my friends, you know, I would not be here if it wasn’t for them. I mean, they’ve all supported me.”

The people who have supported Compton through this ordeal since his second heart transplant are not looking for credit, but Compton gives it to them anyway, starting with Michael Hanzman, a judge on the Florida 11th Circuit Court. Shortly after Compton had his second transplant surgery at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami on May 20, 2008, Hanzman reached out to his friend.

“Basically helped me get a house, a car, and believed that I would get a Tour card,” Compton said. “Never asked for anything back. Who does that? So now it’s like I get chills thinking about it. These people all invested in me and all trusted that I would be here, and now I’m doing it. So it’s just awesome.”

Charlie DeLucca, the president and executive director of the First Tee of Miami and the golf director and driving force behind the Melreese Golf Course in Miami, was on the line Wednesday talking about Compton, one of his favorite longtime students.

Even before Compton began his walk to remember at El Bosque Golf Club in Guanajuato, Mexico — a winning total of 17-under-par that featured 22 birdies, 8 of them in a final round of 65, for a two-stroke win — DeLucca said he had a premonition, telling his secretary, “Erik is going to win in Mexico. I know he is.”

DeLucca was following the tournament on his office computer. When it started to become clear that Compton was going to win, that he was going to jump into second place on the money list and into a commanding position to earn PGA Tour playing privileges as one of the top 25 Nationwide Tour money winners in a season that ends in October, DeLucca started to get emotional.

“What went through my mind?” he said, his voice cracking. “What went through my mind was, ‘He just made his life.’ You know, after everything that’s happened to him, all the stuff he’s been through, he never once gave up. And I’ll tell you something, he’s going to win on the PGA Tour, too. He’s beaten those guys before.”

That was a reference to Compton’s days as a junior player and his college days at the University of Georgia, where he was a redshirt on the 1999 team that won the national title, and a two-time all-conference and all-American the following two years on a team that included Bubba Watson. Compton also played against current tour winners Matt Kuchar, Luke Donald, Adam Scott, Jonathan Byrd and Charles Howell.

Back then, Compton was playing with his first transplanted heart, installed when he was 12. That heart failed in 2008, and he had another transplant. He feels comfortable enough now to joke, “I’m used to all the attention now — everybody knows I’m the guy with two hearts.”

Now, only the PGA Tour remains to be conquered. In 28 previous starts on the big tour, Compton made 17 cuts. Trying too hard in the gym and on the course, he was worn out.

Now, Compton hits balls 20 to 25 minutes before his tee times and never after play. He must pace himself, accepting that he must play slow to avoid fatigue.

But he is where he has always wanted to be. At 1:06 Thursday, he will be on the first tee at Aronomink Golf Club, alongside the 2010 PGA Tour player of the year Jim Furyk and Hunter Mahan.

“I have a new life, and I have a bright future,” he said. “And it’s just — I mean, it’s just crazy. I can’t even explain it.”

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.